The retail and e-commerce industry is an extremely competitive sector of the economy, but even so, these innovative and highly talented young entrepreneurs are successfully winning the game. How are they doing it? Here’s the full story from Forbes:

You can only stop to smell the roses if they’re still alive. And a garden-variety bouquet doesn’t last longer than one week in a vase.

The roses from the green-thumbed Seema Bansal on the other hand, last a full year in full bloom without water.

“We treat them with our proprietary wax-based solution,” explained Bansal, 26, who bootstrapped New York-based e-commerce business Venus ET Fleur with her now-fiancé Sunny Chadha, 28, in 2015. “But the rose’s texture, its shape and a little bit of its scent remains.”

In 2017, Venus ET Fleur expects to do in the region of $7.5 million in revenues thanks to sales of their long-lasting rose arrangements, which typically sell for between $300 and $1,500 and come in any Pantone color, including silver, green and lavender. By the end of the year, they’ll open a second distribution center in Los Angeles.

Bansal and Chadha lead this year’s crop of impressive young founders on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for 2018 in the retail and e-commerce category.

These entrepreneurs and executives have raised millions of dollars in venture funding between them. They’ve built game-changing e-commerce platforms, apps, and bots. They’ve launched exciting new products across categories as varied as vibrators, kitchenware and nail art.

They’re pioneers of the subscription economy. They’re figuring out what a transparent supply chain looks like in the age of mobile shopping. And they range in age from just 14 to 29.

Roses from Seema Bansal’s Venus ET Fleur live an entire year in full bloom without water.

There’s Ali Kriegsman, cofounder of Y Combinator-backed startup Bulletin. She and cofounder Alana Branston take vacant, marked-down real estate and offer online retailers a physical space to rent — like coworking spaces, but for bringing small vendors together in one storefront.

The company charges $300 to $2,000 a month and takes 30% of sales. Kriegsman and Branston have raised $2.2M in VC funding to date.

Another standout? Iyore Olaye, a young star at Walker & Co., the venture-backed tech company creating beauty products for people of color. As lead product engineer, she heads up research and development for men’s grooming brand Bevel and haircare line FORM.

Some of these Under 30s are revolutionizing e-commerce in categories often forgotten by mainstream retail.

Brad McDonald, for example, cofounded Chicago-based Agroy. The company allows farmers to buy fertilizer, seed and more online, updating what was an age-old co-op buying model in the agriculture sector. In 2016, its first year, Agroy did over $2 million in sales.

Meet all this year’s retail and e-commerce list-makers here, and learn more about the wunderkinds changing the world across all Forbes’ categories here.

We have seen many powerful women in modern history and their stories have inspired and taught the world a lesson: leadership and success can come to anyone who is willing to work and fight for their dreams, regardless of gender, class or race. And that even includes running an entire country, reinventing economic policies, attracting foreign investments, and building a stronger nation as a whole.

Let’s learn a thing or two from today’s most influential women-leaders who managed to break the glass ceiling with their courage, brilliance, and wisdom.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany

Image source: studybreaks.com

Perhaps anyone in the modern world has heard of the name Angela Merkel. As a woman leader of one of the world’s superpowers, Merkel’s influence is not to be underestimated. She has a doctorate in Physics and it was the focus of her career before she decided to finally enter politics and become the first female Chancellor of Germany.

Branded as last stronghold of Western liberal power and is currently on her fourth term, she guided Germany through an economic recession and her influence helped maintain a solid European front in the height of Brexit.

Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia

Image source: mtholyoke.edu

Julia Gillard was one of the most prominent figures behind the successful 2010 coup that overthrew Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Gillard was later on elected and became Australia’s very first female Prime Minister.

Just three weeks in the office, she called for snap elections in order to rebuild the deteriorating support for her party and victoriously guarded a 76-74 majority in parliament that gave her the power to form a minority government.

Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Image source: thehindu.com

Bangladesh’s three-time premier lived a life of courage and survival before she was first elected in 1996. A coup d’état in 1975 tells of one of the most tragic stages of her life when 17 of her family members including her parents and three brothers were killed by assassins. Hasina later on survived an assassination attempt from a grenade blast that ended the lives of over 20 people.

A 2001 Transparency International report, however, led to her ousting after Bangladesh was named the most corrupt country in the world. Nonetheless, Hasina found herself back in power after getting 230 out of 299 parliamentary seats in 2009. Currently, Hasina is on Forbes’ ranking, securing the 36th spot among the world’s most powerful women.

Behind every successful nation’s leader is a strong and determined First Lady – and many of these great women have broken the stereotypes by actively working in the frontlines, promoting charitable and social causes while their husband ran the country.

Times have changed in that instead of just working in the background, the world’s most influential First Ladies have made their own history and changed the nation with their passion and dedication. Let’s meet some of these memorable women below:

Eleanor Roosevelt is known as the most important First Lady in American history. Unlike any other first lady, she spent her time travelling and making public appearances: labor meetings, speeches against sexism and racism, and even press conferences on human rights for women and children.

She’s a pioneer in her own right, transforming and redefining the role of the First Lady and her husband’s death did not stop her from continuing her cause.

President Harry Truman, believing in her passion, appointed her to be America’s delegate to the UN Assembly – wherein she later on became the chair to the organization’s Human Rights Commission.

Argentina’s beloved former First Lady was often referred to as “Evita” especially during her rise in the international pop culture scene with the musical Evita in 1976. Evita won her husband’s victory during the 1946 presidential bid through her powerful and often strong populist rhetoric during her weekly radio shows, addressing the poor to support and vote for Juan Perón.

She was the first woman in the country’s history to participate and appear on a public campaigns trail and although it had offended many powerful people, the citizens boldly showed their love and support for the future First Lady.

Although the country of Jordan is technically a unitary state (under its constitutional monarchy), for the purpose of this list we have included Queen Rania, the queen consort of Jordan, for her exemplary contributions to her nation, championing women rights, promoting peace and helping the nation recover from the most tragic refugee crisis in the country’s history.

Millennials are nearing the peak of their careers and many of them are starting to have their own families. Buying properties, especially a house, then becomes a necessity. The article below from Business Insider features the top cities in the US considered to be the most affordable destinations for young homebuyers:

As they get into their late 20s and 30s, more millennials are settling down, starting families, and buying homes.

In fact, writes economist Mark Fleming on the First American Financial Center blog, millennials will be driving the demand for housing in the near future. Contrary to previous generations, however, they are staying in cities rather than buying houses in the suburbs or rural areas, according to research by think tank City Observatory, as reported by the New York Times.

Cities in the midwest, such as Chicago (pictured here), Des Moines, Saint Louis and Minneapolis are popular and relatively affordable destinations for young homebuyers.

Where are they going? A study by LendingTree, the online loan marketplace, analyzed 500,000 mortgage requests and offers from applications between August 2016 and February 2017 to find the cities with the highest percentages of mortgage applicants who are 35 or younger.

Below, we’ve listed the percentage of mortgage applications coming from the 35-and-under crowd, the average down payment supplied by those who are approved from that group, and the average mortgage amount these millennials take on.

Majority of today’s millennials work in offices. However, most of them are very much eager to pursue careers outside the corporate world. In fact, a growing number from this generation is starting to build their own businesses—many of which have promising concepts or taking on unconventional paths. What’s holding back most of these individuals from becoming full-time entrepreneurs, however, is the lack of sufficient resources and a sound business plan. But that is changing rather quickly.

Most millennials are still in their 20s and have inherited an already flawed world. The financial crisis of the late 2000s has made these young, talented people more cautious about their every move but not to the point that they will suppress their appetite for adventurous endeavors. They take risks, but they do it with restraint and are somehow more open to failure than Baby Boomers were. Growing in a ‘transition age’ between the old and the new, this generation has become emboldened by technology and molded by major world events.

Image source: talk-business.co.uk

Social media plays a key role in the rise of millennial entrepreneurs. This low-cost but remarkably effective marketing and customer interaction platform is making it possible for the young to build their business strategically, starting small and hopefully ending up big. Social media is perhaps this generation’s defining aspect, so much so that the world’s biggest online networking site was actually invented by a millennial, Mark Zuckerberg.

While big success stories aren’t too common (yet) among the millennial generation as far as business making is concerned, the digital space is making it easier for them to expand their market, boost their brand, and offer a wider range of products or services. The millennials are a new generation of business people, who mainly capitalize on technology to serve their target markets and are banking on the older generations’ mistakes to make more prudent business decisions.

The millennials are also a unique group of consumers. In fact, they are currently the most prized costumers by companies of all sizes. But because millennial businesses know their own market much more deeply, they have the upper hand to dominate this demographic. The result is a dynamic and thriving business playfield that the world has never seen before.

Some of the world’s largest and most successful companies were founded by first-generation immigrants. Apparently, having cross-cultural experience and diverse funding options, among other factors, are key to thriving even in foreign business environments. Entrepreneur provides more insights on this:

Uber has transformed local transportation in American cities and SpaceX aims to enable Americans to travel to Mars. Chobani is America’s favorite yogurt, while the latest fashion trends from Forever 21 shape the way we dress today. What do these innovative companies share in common? They were all founded by immigrant entrepreneurs.
In the Internet Trends 2017 report prepared by Mary Meeker of KPCB, she shared that 50 percent of the most highly valued technology companies were founded by first-generation immigrants, creating a total of over 48,000 jobs. Also, 60 percent of the most highly valued companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook were founded by first- or second-generation Americans, creating a total of over 1.5 million jobs.
There is a popular belief that it is difficult to start a company in America as an immigrant. Beyond the challenge of getting a work visa, many aspiring entrepreneurs cite lack of network, language barriers and cultural differences as barriers to starting a company. However, in my conversations with many successful immigrant entrepreneurs, there are several key advantages to being a foreign-born entrepreneur. Here are some advantages I would like to urge aspiring entrepreneurs to consider.
1. You have cross-cultural experience you can leverage upon.
In an interview with Peter Arvai of Prezi, he cited his cross-cultural experiences of living in Sweden, Singapore, Japan, Hungary and America as a huge reason he was able to start Prezi, one of the most popular cloud-based presentation tool today used by over 85 million users globally. Experiencing different cultures allows foreign-born entrepreneurs to synthesize the uniqueness of different cultures and use them to their advantage, and in Arvai’s case, he was able to create a hugely successful global business.
2. Your hunger for success is your biggest advantage.
Immigrant entrepreneurs are used to working longer hours, pushing harder and reaching for the extra milestone. As a foreign-born entrepreneur, you have had to overcome various challenges and barriers to stay on in America, to assimilate locally, and to give up what you have already achieved in your home country. As a result, you have became stronger and more used to the ups and downs of entrepreneurs. Therefore, you will be more resilient and hungry to achieve success, and to complete what you have set out to do.
3. There are increasingly more funding resources available to immigrant entrepreneurs.
There are increasingly more resources available to immigrant entrepreneurs. Y Combinator, the widely successful incubator that has produced companies including Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox and Reddit, has shared that it has funded startups from over 60 countries to date and always encourages them to move to Mountain View in California. Immigrant-focused venture capital funds such as Unshackled have also been emerging to focus on helping immigrant entrepreneurs overcome challenges that they face including visa issues, or hiring local employees. There are also increasingly more startup incubators focused on immigrant entrepreneurs including Blk 71 SF and Nordic Innovation House which are in support of Singaporean and Nordic entrepreneurs, respectively.
4. You can use your roots as a leverage for your business.
America is a melting pot of different culture that is open to diverse cultures. Therefore, many foreign-born entrepreneurs have been able to leverage their cultures, food and diverse background to start a successful business. Growing up with the thicker, strained yogurt in Turkey, Hamdi Ulukaya founded Chobani, as he believed that Americans would prefer the flavor of this yogurt to the more watery and sugary flavors available back in 2002. Phil Jaber credited his founding of Philz Coffee to growing up in Palestine where he became an entrepreneur at 8 years old, selling homemade Palestinian coffee to passersby from his family front yard.
5. There are increasing more opportunities for entrepreneurs to obtain a visa.
Other than the commonly known H-1B visas, there are an array of other visas suitable for entrepreneurs. Before President Barack Obama left office, he initiated the “startup visa” to allow foreign-born entrepreneurs to stay in America. Called the International Entrepreneurs Rule, the visa allows foreigners to apply for “parole status” to stay and build fast-growing startups in the U.S, and it will go into effect March 14, 2018 (It was initially supposed to launch on July 17, 2017, but it got pushed back by the Trump Administration). In addition, there is the O-1 visa, which is granted to individuals of extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, education, business or athletics, and the L-1 visa, which is granted to intra-company transfers from a foreign country into the United States. Also, an innovative nonprofit called Global EIR has pushed for a new program to allow immigrant entrepreneurs to partner with local universities and have these institutions sponsor their visas.
Therefore, as you consider your next step to either start a business or to work for someone, please re-think the various advantages you can leverage. Conventional wisdom may suggest that it is better to take the safe route or even return to your home country to pursue your entrepreneurial dream, but before you choose that route, remember that you can readily tap upon the unique strengths that you possess.

While it is possible to be a philanthropist even with a small wealth, it is even much easier to become one as a company executive, tycoon, celebrity, or an inheritor of a large business empire. Being wealthy is not just a showcase of one’s power and influence in the world of business (and even politics), but also a massive opportunity to help the deprived and rebuild lives. But among these ultra-rich individuals, who among them are the most charitable? Here are the top five:

Bill Gates

For years, the planet’s wealthiest man has been among the top philanthropists in the world. In 2015 alone, he donated $1.3 billion to charity, with lifetime donations totaling to $31.5 billion at that point. The Microsoft founder established his foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in 2000 and its endowment was more than $44 billion at the end of 2014, making it the biggest transparently operated private foundation in the world. It aims to eradicate poverty and improve healthcare on a global scale.

Warren Buffett

An investing legend and top-notch entrepreneur, Warren Buffett has pledged to donate most of his wealth through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2011, the Oracle of Omaha was one of the authors of the Giving Pledge, an initiative that encourages ultra-rich individuals and families to give away a large slice of their wealth to charitable causes.

Azim Premji

One of India’s wealthiest people, Azim Premji works hard to reform India’s education and skills development systems. The outsourcing mogul has donated a huge portion of his wealth to improve schools in his country and funded a university that awards degrees in teacher training.

Li Ka-shing

For this Hong Kong-based magnate, giving is his ‘third son.’ In fact, he has pledged to donate one-third of his assets to support philanthropic endeavors. His charity organization, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, promotes social progress by supporting projects that improve access to quality education, enhance medical services, encourage cultural diversity, and advocate community involvement. He thinks of his organization as “one of the ideas [he is] most proud of.”

Mark Zuckerberg

A tech genius and certainly among the most impressive millennial success stories, Mark Zuckerberg has promised to donate 99 percent of his wealth to charity in his lifetime. The Facebook founder has been very active in healthcare-related endeavors. He donated $25 million in the fight against Ebola and around $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital. Of course, education and technological innovation are also among the focus areas of his philanthropic activities.

Athletes. These individuals possess discipline, solid work ethic, passion, and the kind of competitiveness necessary to carry out a spectacular game. In the world of business, such athletic traits can also serve meaningful purpose for aspiring entrepreneurs, helping them achieve their goals eventually. Here is an article from Influencive for more insights:

Here’s why athletes make perfect entrepreneurs.
It might surprise some that the skillsets and characteristics common among successful athletes can also be found among successful entrepreneurs.
However, the two groups are more similar than you might think – certain traits common among both can lead to success both on and off the field. Here are some reasons why qualities common among successful athletes can translate into the business world.
GRIT
When one thinks of grit, toughness and endurance usually come to mind. It makes sense, then, that grit is necessary to be successful as an athlete. Athletes need to be tough, physically and mentally; they need to be able to endure pain and pressure while maintaining a high level of performance.
Even more importantly, athletes learn from their shortcomings so they can overcome past failures and win the next time. All athletes lose, but the successful ones are the ones who have the perseverance to keep trying until they find success.
The same can be said about entrepreneurs, who need the endurance and toughness to withstand long hours and endless nights trying to get a business going. If an entrepreneur has worked hard enough to get a business off the ground, they’re only going to have to work harder to make their operation sustainable.
Like athletes, entrepreneurs need to be able to operate at a high level, consistently and for long periods of time. Further, like successful athletes, successful entrepreneurs need to be able to learn from their mistakes and move on.
Brendan Candon, the founder of SidelineSwap, is a huge fan of grit; he explained, “We believe it’s incredibly important to encourage participation in sports at the youth level. Sports help to foster resilience and grit at a young age, which helps prepare you for success in the real world.” And he puts his money where his mouth is – through his company’s #GearForAYear scholarship, he awards athletes from grade school through college with $500 worth of sports gear.
In this way, Candon is able to further his mission of providing more access to athletics for deserving kids, and foster grit and resilience – a worthy cause for any company looking to make their impact on the next generation of athletes-turned-entrepreneurs.
TEAMWORK
Many entrepreneurs find that it’s necessary to work in teams for certain undertakings. Oftentimes, financial or physical support is needed to start a business; having one or more partners can ease those concerns. To maximize the potential of all team members, entrepreneurs need to bring out every participant’s strengths.
This is where a common characteristic among athletes can come into play. Take basketball, for instance: each position has a designated function that doesn’t change over the course of a game, just like how team members in a startup have their specific job tasks. Based on each athlete’s strengths and weaknesses, a coach places them in their positions to perfect the system for a collective effort to win the game. Sound familiar?
Just as athletes in team sports need to be team players, entrepreneurs in partnerships need to be able to work with their peers and lead teams effectively for the greater good of the company.
WORK ETHIC
For entrepreneurs, having talent and skill is meaningless if one doesn’t have a strong work ethic to pull off those 60+ hour weeks. Similarly, the best athletes in the world aren’t the best because of their skill. Sure, skill is a very important factor, but it’s worthless if the athlete doesn’t know how to work hard.
The best athletes, such as Serena Williams, LeBron James, and Joe Montana, are the best because they perfected their skill by perfecting their work ethic. A successful athlete can be a successful entrepreneur because that person knows that in order to be successful, they’re going to have to work for it every time.
FOCUS
Stubbornness is often considered a negative quality, since it implies that someone is unwilling to change for the better. However, in the athletic and entrepreneurial worlds, stubbornness – here, called focus – is necessary for success.
Clear focus on the game, and nothing but the game, is critical to winning among athletes. If they let themselves get distracted by other issues, they run the risk of losing sight of what’s important. All athletes do is eat, breathe, and live in their one goal to make sure that they achieve it.
This sense of focus is hugely helpful for any entrepreneur, since they need to be completely focused on setting up their business in order to be successful. With how competitive today’s market is, entrepreneurs need to be willing to only think about their business and focus everything on it, even when it doesn’t pay off right away.
Despite the surface-level differences, athletes and entrepreneurs have more in common than meets the eye. From knowing the value of hard work to being able to perform well in teams, adding former athletes to your entrepreneur circle can be all you need to achieve business success.

With all the fame, influence, and money they have, it is pretty easy for the top celebrities to choose a luxury destination and get there in a jiffy. At least this is the ideal picture; but these popular personalities have very tight schedules and plenty of engagements, which means that they only have a few days or weeks in a year to spend on leisure and relaxation. But when they do, it has to be perfect. Hence, it is very important for them to choose the ‘right’ vacation spot and make every second count. Not surprisingly, beach destinations are their top picks and they include:

Maldives. A small archipelago of islands and atolls south of the Indian subcontinent, the Maldives is a perennial entry to many annual lists of the world’s most luxurious island getaways. Its clear turquoise waters, warm weather, relative isolation, and ultra-deluxe resorts offer supreme privacy and exclusivity that celebrities are often deprived of. Prince William and Kate Middleton, David Beckham, Michael Phelps, and Madonna have all sought to experience the world-famous Maldivian hospitality.

Image source: baros.com

St. Barths. The Caribbean has plenty magnificent tropical beaches and islands, but St.Barths, a tiny overseas collectivity of France in the West Indies, is probably the most popular among A-list celebrities. The peak of the travel season is usually on New Year’s Eve, when the rich and famous converge on the island in luxury yachts up to 170 meters in length. Usher, Gwen Stefani, Beyonce, and the Kadashians love spending the holidays in this piece of winterless paradise.

Image source: wimco.com

Bermuda. This British Overseas Territory in northern Atlantic is not just a popular luxury destination for celebrities, but is also where some of them lived! As a financial center and a tax-neutral jurisdiction, Bermuda attracts plenty of investors—famous people included. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas have owned a property in the island for 15 years while The Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey was actually born here! Bermuda is also this year’s host of the America’s Cup.

Image source: gotobermuda.com

Rio de Janeiro. Nestled between picturesque mountains and gorgeous beaches, Brazil’s cultural hub is popular among regular tourists and celebrities alike. It is more than just a beach paradise; but also a melting pot of impressive architecture, sporting events, and street parties! In Rio, everything a VIP visitor needs seems so accessible. Hugh Jackman, Justin Bieber, and Britney Spears have all been spotted vacationing in the city.

Millennials have their own way of expressing themselves and managing every aspect of their lives that they are often stereotyped as arrogant and conceited. In the article below from MarketWatch, personal finance writer Quentin Fottrell explains why the case may not be entirely true. Read on:

Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection

Young Americans are constantly told by the media — and, sometimes, their own parents — that they think the world owes them a favor. Bad news for baby boomers: It may be the exact opposite.
Millennials say people should be able to pay for their own housing at 22 years of age, pay for their own car at 20.5 years of age and be responsible for their own cell phone plan at 18.5 years of age, according to a new study from personal-finance site Bankrate.com.
In all three cases, the younger cohort’s average response is about a year and a half earlier than when baby boomers feel these three landmarks of financial independence should happen.
“Millennials are often stereotyped as being entitled,” Sarah Berger, a columnist and analyst at Bankrate.com, said in a statement on the survey released Wednesday. “It’s refreshing to see that millennials really do have high expectations of gaining financial independence and getting off their parents’ payroll.”
The survey tapped a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults. Those respondents living in the Northeast said parents should help with housing costs until their children are 24.5 years of age. That was two years longer than for Midwesterners, 1.5 years longer than for Southerners and about a year longer than for those who live on the West Coast.
The full story HERE.